Hearing his subordinate's cry, Nigun looked up at the sky.
The moment he saw the six figures hovering above, his heart sank.
Dragonoid, Undead, Demon, Vampire, and that unidentified creature resembling a slime.
He wasn't confident he could defeat any one of them. Even the weakest among them would be at least Hero-tier.
"I am Nigun, Captain of the Sunlight Scripture! What do you monsters want?"
"Why are you blocking the army of the Slane Theocracy?"
Nigun shouted toward the sky, announcing his identity in hopes of making them wary enough to back off.
But he was destined to be disappointed.
The name Slane Theocracy didn't cause the slightest ripple in their expressions. They simply looked down at him calmly.
"Kneel."
Sephis spoke coldly, his eyes filled with indifference as he looked at the human below who dared call the Supreme Beings monsters.
An immense pressure descended instantly, crashing down upon the soldiers beneath him.
"Pfft!"
Several soldiers and Priests were struck by the sudden force, coughing up blood as they collapsed unconscious. The weaker ones were crushed outright, bursting into clouds of blood mist.
The Archangel Flame disintegrated into specks of light and faded away.
Watching groups of humans fall one after another, Sephis was mildly surprised. They were even weaker than he had expected. He slightly reduced the pressure.
He couldn't let them all die just yet. The Three Supreme Beings still had matters to handle.
"Damn it…"
Nigun knelt on the ground, his face splattered with blood. It wasn't his own, but that of the soldiers who had been crushed beside him. As captain, his strength was respectable.
At least he was still able to kneel, instead of collapsing and vomiting blood like the others.
"This is the attitude you should have, human."
Sephis looked at Nigun kneeling before him and spoke flatly. He paid no attention to the hatred in the man's eyes. He knew the Supreme Beings would deal with him soon enough.
"Well done."
Naohara nodded to Sephis, clearly satisfied.
Nigun's earlier remark calling them monsters had irritated him. He had originally intended to speak with the man, but that single word had instantly killed his interest.
It wasn't entirely wrong—but until he had fully adjusted his mindset, it still grated on him.
The six of them descended slowly and landed on the ground, walking up to Nigun.
Seeing Nigun gritting his teeth in fury, Herohero let out a malicious laugh.
"Since you insist on calling us monsters, there's no need for further conversation."
"I originally planned to kill just one of you. But you've managed to anger me. I've changed my mind. All of you are going to die."
"So, Naohara, Momonga—are you doing it, or should I?"
Herohero turned to his two friends, asking if they were interested.
Shalltear's eyes flickered with excitement. She was about to step forward when Albedo quietly stopped her.
Herohero hadn't given them an order. He had asked Momonga and Naohara. Albedo understood that even if the two of them declined, Herohero would handle it personally.
"I'm not interested."
"Me neither. Just leave the bodies intact for me later. I want to run an experiment."
Naohara and Momonga both shook their heads, refusing.
Momonga specifically reminded him not to use corrosive-type magic. He still had use for the corpses.
"Since neither of you wants to do it, I'll handle it."
With that, Herohero walked straight into the middle of the crowd, looking down at the densely packed humans sprawled across the ground.
"I'll make sure you die without pain. Don't hate me. If you want to blame someone, blame your captain. What he said really pissed me off."
"No one gets to insult us… except the dead."
Herohero chuckled as he spoke, then ignored the terrified eyes around him and cast his magic.
[Special Skill: Soul Corrosion Touch]
A massive statue manifested behind Herohero. Set into it was a gigantic eyeball, a dark crimson orb that slowly rotated as it surveyed everything around it.
As the skill activated, one phantom tentacle after another burst out from that enormous eye, lashing straight toward the humans sprawled on the ground.
The tentacles had no true form. They passed through flesh as if it weren't there, reaching for something far deeper.
The soul was the most essential part of a person, something that should never have been touched. Yet those intangible tentacles shattered that rule and seized it anyway.
Magic existed to break rules.
They didn't drag the souls out. The moment they made contact, the tentacles dissolved, turning into a mass of energy that wrapped around each soul.
Decay seeped into them, their light dimming and fading until they finally crumbled into nothingness.
Before anyone could even understand what was happening, they slipped quietly into a sleep they would never wake from.
"A death without a sound… how merciful, Herohero-sama."
Shalltear's voice was filled with admiration.
Naohara and Momonga applauded.
"Not bad, Blackie. That was pretty damn flashy."
Naohara was already familiar with Herohero's special skill. If Herohero went all out, it could affect every living being within several kilometers.
It rotted every soul within range down to true nothingness. In a sense, it was instant-death magic, though it was a different type from Momonga's enhanced instant-death skill, "The Goal of All Life Is Death."
"Most of my magic is corrosion-type, after all."
"Since Momonga wants the bodies intact, I'll just erase their souls instead."
Herohero sounded a little resigned. He had plenty of spells, but not many that left the body unharmed. Besides, he wanted to see how strong his special skill really was, so he chose to use [Soul Corrosion Touch].
The result didn't disappoint him. From what he could see, he was more than satisfied.
"Monsters… you monsters!"
Nigun stared at the dead soldiers in horror, his voice breaking into one furious roar after another.
He was still alive, but he understood what that meant. They hadn't spared him out of mercy. He still had value. Once they were done using him, death would be waiting all the same.
"That's right. We're monsters. And monsters do what monsters are supposed to do."
Herohero crouched in front of Nigun and laughed. This was exactly what he wanted to see—this expression, the way the man was falling apart.
"Alright. Time to be on your way. Go keep your subordinates company."
"And when you get down there, don't forget to thank me for letting you watch such a fine show."
Herohero didn't bother with any more words. He reached out and grabbed Nigun by the face.
A harsh sizzling sound followed, and another headless corpse collapsed to the ground.
Even in death, the body still clutched the Sealing Crystal, but under Sephis's pressure, he never got the chance to activate it—not once, not even at the very end.
Not that it would've done him any good anyway.
"Hm?"
"Naohara, Momonga… I've found something interesting."